I’ve always been a big online shopper and so is most of my family. Safe to say one of them has a Temu addiction and we need to stage an intervention. I had to laugh one time when my middle child aged in his 20’s saving to move out and get married, ordered a box of Crackers to be delivered by Amazon. He ordered from the comfort of his bed. They arrived the next day and I took delivery by the poor overworked Amazon guy. I carried the box of crackers from the front door to my son in his bedroom. He didn’t have to lift more than a few fingers in effort to get his crackers. He explained it was free delivery on a $2 box of crackers. I could see his point. Much easier than walking to the pantry where he would probably find no crackers anyway.
Online shopping offers unmatched convenience, especially if you live in a place where a huge shopping centre isn’t on your doorstep or you just can’t be bothered leaving your bedroom. The internet has more options than you can find in a brick-and-mortar store or goods are sometimes only sold online and not in stores. A big stationery store I love to visit, may only carry a few types of something you need and the rest is held as stock online. It also opens the door to scams that can cost you money, time, and personal information. Not to mention disappointment expecting a great gadget, new pair of boots, vitamins that promise to take your pain away, or a fantastic summer dress to arrive, and it’s terrible quality, not what was advertised, and is not fit for the purpose.
As more people turn to the internet to buy virtually everything, scammers are evolving their tactics to deceive even the most cautious shoppers. Knowing the signs of a potential scam can help you shop with confidence and protect your personal and financial information.
Too Good to Be True Deals
One of the biggest red flags is a deal that looks too good to be true. Scammers often lure shoppers with heavily discounted items, especially high-demand products like electronics, perfume, designer clothing, or luxury accessories. If a product is being sold at a fraction of its normal price — especially by a lesser-known seller — proceed with caution. Legitimate businesses rarely sell expensive items far below market value without a catch. Sometimes they harvest your data i.e. name, address, email address, home address, date of birth, phone number and credit card number to use for identity theft or to resell on a database. You may or may not receive a product. If you do receive a product, it is likely to be a fake.
Poor Website Design and Suspicious URLs
Scam websites often mimic the appearance of real retail stores, but they usually lack the polish you would expect from a legitimate business. Look for obvious signs like low-resolution images, spelling or grammar mistakes, links on the site that go nowhere, and limited product descriptions. Additionally, always check the website’s URL. Scammers may create addresses that are slightly altered versions of reputable brands (e.g., “amaz0n.net” instead of “amazon.com”). Secure sites will start with “https://” and include a padlock icon in the address bar. Cloned sites of real sites are a little bit basic as the scammers just want to get up and running with their products and raking in money, rather than making their website perfect with all the copied links working as per the original website they are copying, as this can take weeks of web design work.
Same when they are cloning Facebook or Instagram accounts. They sometimes don’t copy the name correctly or bother to put in a photo to make it look legitimate. Sometimes they even put a photo in sideways. Watch for lazy work and things that just don’t quite look right. Pay attention to details even in photographs and if the models featured look real, especially when they are advertising weight loss products, long glossy hair, fixing baldness or other health miracle products.
As I was scrolling through Facebook recently, I saw an advertisement for a weight loss supplement. They had a couple’s photos before and after. The ‘before’ photo had a background of the Sydney Opera House. The ‘after’ photo had the couple skinnier and with big smiles, but in the background was the same Sydney Opera House but suddenly there was a bunch of skyscrapers in the background behind the Opera House. How did all those skyscrapers suddenly appear in the time it took for the couple to take the pills and get skinny? The pictures were obviously AI fakes and not that well done. I commented on the sponsored post about the background and haven’t seen the advertisement again, so my Facebook account was probably blocked. My comments might have helped some people avoid being scammed though before I was blocked if they saw my comment, and at the very least, it might make some people pay more attention to photographs, especially in this age of creating fakes all day every day using AI technology. AI is getting better every hour of every day as it is trained by humans and by itself. Soon we won’t be able to tell AI fakes at all even in videos, so it is hard to trust anything you see online anymore.
No Contact Information or Vague Policies
Legitimate retailers online provide clear contact details on their websites. Contact information should not be hard to find or buried on their website. They should also list return policies, shipping times, and terms of service. If you can’t find this information or the seller is vague or evasive when asked about it, it could be a scam. Trustworthy businesses want customers to feel secure and informed. Look for an Australian Business Number too and if it is readily available as a sign of trust. Having a business with dot com dot au is not a reliable sign as legitimate Australian businesses do have just dot com sometimes as do my online and photography businesses.
Requests for Unusual Payment Methods
Be wary if a seller asks for payment through wire transfers, cryptocurrency, prepaid gift cards, or third-party apps not linked to established e-commerce platforms. These methods are often untraceable and irreversible. Credit cards and trusted platforms like PayPal offer some buyer protection and are safer options when making online purchases. PayPal will often side with the buyer especially if you have evidence such as an order receipt, email confirmations, promised tracking numbers, screenshots of conversations, good product photos showing faults etc.
Having a separate bank account with a debit card just for online shopping can be helpful too. Just load on what you want for a purchase. If your card gets further charged after by the company or scammers get hold of it, then it’s pretty much self-contained and useless. Easily cancelled without affecting your day-to-day spending in real stores.
If anyone asks you to share a 4-digit pin with them for any reason, never do it. That is a way of bypassing two factor authentication to get access to your account. They may send a message asking help to get into their account, but really they are using the 4 digit pin to get into your own account.
Lack of Reviews or Overwhelmingly Positive Fake Ones
Check for customer reviews, both on the website and external review sites like Trustpilot or the Better Business Bureau. You can type in the name of the product you are looking at or the company name and add “Scam” or “Reviews” after it, and often that throws up interesting information to read. If you don’t add the other words, you can get glowing reviews on the product written by the company themselves. A lack of reviews or only glowing, generic-sounding feedback can indicate a scam. Also, look at how long the website or seller has been active — new domains or social media accounts created just days ago are suspicious. To check out a business page on Facebook, go to the ‘about’ section and click Page Transparency. This is where you will see when the page was created, if they have changed their name and where the admins are located that run the page.
Some companies offer a discount or a refund on a product only if you leave a positive review, so it’s really hard to trust them alone. Product reviews can be bought too. Sometimes it’s better to skip straight to the 1-star reviews which are more likely to be from real customers. If you do receive a sub-standard product, make sure you go online to leave an honest review so others can be informed. It’s about people helping people in the fight against cybercrime and criminal activity.
Pressure to Act Quickly
Scam sites may use countdown timers or claim that items are “selling out fast” to pressure you into making a rushed decision. This sense of urgency can override your better judgment especially late at night if you are tired. Take your time to research before buying. Take the name of the product you have seen advertised and might buy, and do some independent research and read reviews on it.
Not Getting What was Described
Often with clothing boutique stores online the products are advertised as Cotton or Linen when they are Polyester. Polyester itself is often given a bad rap as it’s not a natural product like Cotton, but it does last longer than Cotton as a fabric, and prints on better so your clothes look more vibrant and last longer. The problem is if the fabric is Polyester but advertised as something else. Some people are allergic to it.
Sizing can also be an issue but these days a lot of overseas manufacturers are making clothes in bigger sizes. Even up to 6 XL which is helpful. Look for websites that provide accurate size charts so you can measure your body to see what size suits. A good description should say if the item runs small or is a normal fit. Reading reviews on some sites will also tell you if the customer found the item to be small, just right or too big. Some sites have reviews only from verified buyers which is helpful. They send you a link after purchase and you can only leave a review with that link.
Beware of Gimmicks
I personally dislike the websites where you have to participate in a spinning wheel, start an account, enter your email address in order to browse, offer me big discounts, or any other gimmicks to get me to buy. I prefer to just browse privately at my own leisure. If I do find sites I have bought off before, I tend to go back to those sites as I had a good experience, but I still read product reviews before buying.
Temu is safe to buy from, but use the website and not the app. The app has a spinning wheel that offers you big discounts and free gifts. The problem is that you have to purchase a certain amount to get those cheap free gifts and before you know it, you have spent way more than you anticipated, and a lot of time. The free spin thing has a timer so you are pressured into making decisions or missing out and it creates a stressful shopping experience. Use the website and shop slowly and carefully being sure of everything you are buying. The reviews are from verified buyers. I have purchased many times from Temu without any issues and I really like what I have bought. Sometimes it is hit and miss though and you get what you pay for. If you Google search for: “What I thought I was buying from Temu vs what I got” it throws up some YouTube videos that are worth watching.
Shopping Around
If you do your homework before buying you can save a lot of money. Take TPU Rubber Apple iWatch bands. I saw them on a sponsored Facebook advert for $32 a band. They were also selling on Temu for three in different colours for under $5. The products are identical. Obviously, the company doing sponsored adverts on Facebook were actually sourcing their product from the same factory as the other companies. They had just branded them with a company name and established a business around that product which is a good business model buying and selling for a profit, but if you want to be a savvy shopper and save money, shop around. You can use Google Reverse Image search to search out a product you are interested in, or cut and paste the title of the product into Google and that will work too.
Useless Guarantees
Sometimes you see advertised a 60-day money back guarantee but if you check the fine print this is only for goods not opened. Say you bought a hair styler and you find it to be flimsy and potentially dangerous with a loose cord, or it just doesn’t hold curls in your hair, then you often can’t return it as you have used it to see if it works and removed it from the original packaging. Sometimes the packaging might be blister packaging and the only way in is to cut it. So don’t purchase thinking you can just return it in 60 days without doing your due diligence research on the item first. If you just package it up and send it back without contacting the company, then your package may be refused and they could just offer you store credit instead of a refund. This becomes useless if you really don’t want to purchase from them again.
Subscriptions
Be careful of anything that wants you to sign up for a regular delivery or a subscription. Even a free trial. Chances are they want you to forget you signed up for the free trial and never cancel it. This means they just keep debiting your card month after month, maybe for a product you bought once and didn’t even like. Go slowly through the purchase and make sure no ticks are in place for ongoing subscriptions as often they are set to default unless you uncheck the box. If you do sign up for a trial, make sure you set a phone calendar reminder with an alert, to cancel a day or two before your credit card is charged again.
Returning Goods
Sometimes sending goods back to a company (normally China) means you lose out even more money posting from Australia to China. The scammers often don’t collect the packages to issue refunds in China, so the goods are either destroyed or sent back to you after a few months. If the parcel is not received by the dodgy company, then they cannot issue you a refund. It’s in their terms and conditions. So you bought the item and paid the full price, paid for shipping back to China and then end up back where you started but with an item which is varying degrees of useless, plus you paid extra postage. It’s better if you feel you were scammed to try to get your money back through Paypal or your bank, and not send the goods back to China via Australia Post. If you have no luck recovering your money, keep the item, bin it or donate it and cut your losses at this point. Some companies are good at accepting returns so check that out as part of your research before purchasing. One story I saw recently, a lady bought 4 dresses from a company that she saw online and decided to send three of them back after the fit and fabric were terrible. It cost her $50 to post the goods back to China. She waited for her refund, but instead she found out the parcel had been shipped back to her and she was charged another $50 when she went to collect it at the Post Office.
Cash is King
As they say cash is king when advertising online to sell something or buying something online in your area especially in the second-hand market. Any person who contacts you and asks you to click on an Aus Post (Australia Post) link or asks you to upgrade to a business account in order to be paid for an item, is a scam. No such thing as a business account upgrade costing money. Even if they promise to return your money for the business account upgrade afterwards, don’t fall for it.
I recently read the story of a man shared by his wife, who clicked on an Auspost link as he was selling a jacket second hand, and it took him to a cloned website of his bank. He thought it was legit so he entered his username and password. It was a phishing website so his keystrokes were recorded and the scammers had access to his bank account. It was that easy for them. The man then saw they had moved all his money into one account and was preparing to relieve him of his funds, when he was able to phone his bank and get it frozen.
Scammers will say they are in another state to you, so can you please post or courier an item. I’ve had people ask me to ship a couch overseas and ship an Audi to Darwin. They are often the first person to reply to an advert you place. They will also often send you an email with a general response and some made up story, so that the correspondence with them is off the platform like Facebook Marketplace and onto email. If their account gets shut down on that platform, they have you on email.
Online Pets
During lockdowns many people went online looking for a pet to help them pass the time and when working from home. This is when the pet scams took hold but they are still around today. I saw a lady nearly fall for one just the other day. They will use stolen photographs, place adverts to which you answer because who can’t resist a cute puppy or kitten begging for a new owner. They pressure you saying you need to put down a deposit for your chosen animal, then they promise delivery. Once they have your deposit money, they block you, disappear and pop up again later on with new stolen photos or using a new stolen or fake Facebook account. Never buy an animal sight unseen. Visit a proper pet shelter or registered breeder and see what you are getting.
Fake Receipts
Scammers may send you a receipt for an item you are buying or selling, but check for signs of Photoshopping (zoom in and look to see if the fonts match or aren’t quite lined up properly) and don’t let an item leave your hands without actually seeing the funds in your bank account. If unsure, just don’t buy or sell second hand items without meeting the person in public first. Safer to do a deal in your local police station carpark or Maccas with security cameras than have them come to your house. Also don’t trust anyone who sends you their ID document as it can easily be faked with a fake name and photograph with a few minutes of Photoshop work. Even Apple phone receipts with serial numbers can be faked, so you think you are buying a genuine second-hand phone but it’s just an Apple case with an Android operating system inside which you don’t find out about until you start using the phone. Many people have fallen for this one, as they can’t afford a genuine brand-new phone from a shop so they think they will save money by buying second hand online.
Join a Scam Alerts Group
One of the best things I have done this year is join the Scam Alerts Australia group on Facebook. It’s hugely frequented with dozens of posts a day, by people warning of scams, naming scam shopping sites, scam texts and phone calls and a lot more.
There’s a big list on the Featured tab warning of all the scam clothing companies operating worldwide but targeting Australians with names such as Bondi Boutique and Melbourne Boutique. They aren’t in Australia but use an Australian word in their name to gain trust. They change their name often when the jig is up and too many people realize it’s a scam. If anyone posts a negative comment to warn others on their ‘Facebook sponsored adverts’ then that person is usually blocked and their comment removed. They often feature AI models (you can tell as their faces are just a bit too smooth) and might have a sob story that they are going out of business. Their adverts feature nice and trustworthy looking men or older women and might have some shiny boots or fancy looking coats, that look nothing like the products that turn up on your doorstep.
The group is very active and help each other out a lot. You can also post a note there asking if a particular website is a scam before purchase, and someone will usually help you and point out what makes the site a scam or share their experiences to warn others.
Final Tips
Always do your homework before buying from a new or unfamiliar person or website. Pay attention to details, small print and use tools like Google’s Safe Browsing or scam site checkers. Keep antivirus software updated and monitor your bank statements regularly for unauthorized charges.
By staying alert and informed, you can enjoy the perks of online shopping while avoiding the traps set by scammers. When in doubt, trust your instincts — if something feels off, it probably is.
Copyright Victoria Purdie 2025